Every Day a Gift

'This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.' -Psalm 118:24.

Yes and amen. Today is a beautiful day, today is a gift!

Do those words come easily out of my mouth every single day? Well that's something I've felt challenged over recently. As with many topics and breakthrough areas, I feel like God's been speaking to me about this topic for about a year or even longer, but it's only recently that I feel like he's tied it all together. Well for now anyway, one thing I'm sure of is that many times God brings me back to the same mountain. One picture that encourages me though, is that it feels like a mountain with an upwards spiralling path. It feels as though we come back to the same place, but really it's like we're one spiral above where we were last time. I love that picture because I trust that God is always going deeper, He is continually transforming me, the roots are growing stronger.

I think of when I was a child and I opened a gift for my birthday, well actually still now, I haven't changed! There is so much anticipation and excitement as the gift is unwrapped. 'Ooh I wonder what it will be?!' But there's also thankfulness for the love and thoughtfulness of the giver, 'wow they really wanted to give me something, how special!' And that right there is how I have been challenged to live each day. Firstly, to wake up each day with thankfulness on my lips for the gift of a new day that our Father has given us:

'Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.' -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. I have learnt that thankfulness leads me into God's presence. The more I thank God for, the more I see as a gift, and the more I thank Him for! It leads me into a deeper relationship with Him. It takes my thoughts off myself, and puts them back onto Him. God has taught me the truth of Psalm 37:4: 'Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.' The more that I delight myself in the Lord [Sing His praises, worship Him, dwell in His presence], the more my heart yearns for more of Him, and the more of Him He gives me. It's the most amazing and transformative thing!

Secondly, I feel like God has taught me to value this day. I'm reminded of the many verses in the bible that say we are foreigners in this world, we are only passing through. This is not my forever home, but greater things are yet to come! Cue Chris Tomlin's 'God of this City' playing through my head. If I live with an eternal perspective, sure of where I'm going it brings new perspective to troubles I face today. Yes, I still have to choose to trust God each day, but my goodness by living with the assurance of where I'm going, I can take hold of the gift of today and ask God 'How would you use me here today? Your kingdom come Father, on earth as it is in heaven.'

This is all great in theory, but how do we actually live each day as a gift?

1) Encourage yourself in the Lord

About a week ago I was spending some time in prayer and pondering what encouraging myself in the Lord looks like. It's one of those phrases that I've heard many times, but never truly understood. We read in 1 Samuel 30:6 that David encouraged himself in the Lord. I could have searched on google how people have interpreted this, but I felt led to ask God to show me what it looks like to encourage myself in Him.

Firstly I would just like to say, make a note when you ask God to teach you something! For about four days after praying this (and seeming to forget), I encountered a hard moment in each day that upset me. I couldn't work out why suddenly I was finding things hard and tried to trust God with these things. Most of them were rooted in uncertainties I was feeling, as most of us can relate with the current uncertainty of the pandemic. On Friday I finally got to a point where I was talking with God and admitting that these uncertainties are tough, but, and this is the important part "I trust that You are my rock." And this is when the penny dropped, and I was reminded what I had asked God to show me. Wow He is so faithful! Over and over He continues to remind me. Encouraging myself in the Lord looks like acknowledging troubles, but believing and declaring that despite them I trust in my Father. Despite them, God is bigger. Despite them, I will not be shaken. The uncertainty, trouble, whatever it is may remain, but now my perspective is back on God. And along with that, His wonderful peace returns.

2) Do everything without complaining or arguing

This short verse, Philippians 2:14 can easily be skipped over. How many of us have read this verse and thought of someone else who needs to pay attention to it? Oof, I fell guilty of doing this earlier in the year. I heard this verse and knew exactly how I could help someone. But in God's grace He convicted my heart, I had heard this verse for me. It's like I had forgotten that was even in the bible, but I can tell you it was a huge wake up call! Like being drenched with gutter water on a cold day when opening the overflow pipe to the rainwater tank (true story, this happened!). I'm so thankful for God's work of grace in that moment and the weeks to follow. Previous to that moment I had been guilty of moments of complaining, not so much verbally to anyone but really in my thoughts. It's so hard to keep what's inside from spilling out, whether in words or action. I found that it mostly affected my attitude, and this is a really dangerous place to be!

When I'm stuck in this thought pattern, I'm focused on me. If I'm complaining about the troubles of today, how can I in the same breath be declaring my gratitude to God for the gift of this day? It just doesn't work like that. By complaining I'm really saying, God I don't trust you with these things I'm upset about. I'm not trusting that you are in control. I'm not trusting that you work all things to the good of those who love you. I'm not trusting that you have good plans for me. I think it's okay and actually good to acknowledge when things are tough, but that is where it needs to be handed over. God, this is tough but I trust you. I'm going to hand this to you, and would you please direct my steps through this. I can't do this alone, and I thank you that I am not alone. And this is where Proverbs 3:5-6 fits so beautifully! 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.'

3) Be mindful of what you're feeding yourself

A few months ago when I was back home in NZ, I found myself scrolling social media multiple times throughout the day. I don't think social media is bad in and of itself, but the way I was spending hours scrolling wasn't healthy. I felt convicted once again that I needed to build some healthy habits with social media, so I began limiting myself to checking social media twice a day. Soon after I pulled that back to once a day. Not every day is perfect, but this time I have reclaimed has lead me into some really beautiful moments with the Lord. When my first instinct in a quiet moment is no longer to reach for my phone, I've found that God has begun to do such a beautiful work in my heart, and even this blog has come out of that! It's what I have fed on instead of social media that has been so wonderful. Even little things like watching the sunset with a cup of tea, sitting outside on a hammock and just being, all these things point me back to God and I feel a real swell of thankfulness bubble up.

A few weeks back I was again having a meh moment, and in that moment I was struggling to see the gift of the day. It was really interesting after a little while of feeling like that, I realised I had been singing without thinking. I tuned in to what I was singing, and in that moment I sang 'Jireh, you are enough.' And that was all I needed to snap out of it and again turn my eyes upon Jesus in gratitude. Wow the timing was incredible! And I realised the playlist I had been listening to earlier had other lines like 'Great is your faithfulness to me', 'I put my faith in Jesus, my anchor to the ground. My hope and firm foundation, you never let me down', 'Lord, I am trusting that you are a faithful Father, and all that you have it is good.' I was feeding myself songs declaring God's faithfulness, and He really used that to remind me when I was struggling!

I've asked God to lead me with this, in being mindful of what I'm feeding myself each day. And somedays I can very much relate with what Paul shared in Romans 7, for example I knew I wanted to write the first post of this blog last month, but it was so much easier to do other things. The day I wrote it I finally made the decision to start writing even when I didn't feel like it. I knew that by sitting down to write I was going to have an awesome time with God, but it takes a choice to do these things. It takes a choice to sit down and read my bible each day, it takes a choice to spend time in prayer. Other things can seem more appealing, but these are the things that bring me life, lead me closer to God, and lead me to live each day thankful and appreciative of the gift it is! I've also found that the more I fix my thoughts on God, the more my thoughts are drifting towards Him, and that's a beautiful thing that even in the repetitive tasks of the day my thoughts are coming back to Him. What a privilege it is!

These are some of the ways God has been speaking to me recently. I pray that God speaks encouragement to your heart through this post, and that He would direct you individually about any areas that He wants to work on in you. I pray that He would help you to understand His grace, we're not perfect people, but in His kindness He delights in us and wants to teach us to delight in Him each and every day. How wonderful He is!